E346 How Joey Varela Learned to Grieve, Let Go of Control, and Find Joy in Music Again on VRSTY's Icon

Joey Varela: Yo, what's up guys? My name is Joey. I am the lead singer of VRSTY, and you're listening to The Itch.

KC: You're listening to The Itch. My name is KC.

Dan: My name is Dan.

Aaron: And I'm Aaron. And this week we are scratching The Itch to welcome back a returning friend. Now four-time, I believe, guest. Joey from VRSTY. He's about to drop a new album called Icon on October 23rd.

Joey Varela: Yes, sir.

Aaron: Welcome back. It's good to see you, man.

Joey Varela: It's good to see you guys. Thank you guys for having me back on.

Dan: Absolutely. When you were last on the show three years ago, we discussed Levitate, which was the second release with Spinefarm. And yeah, at the time you kind of just seemed to be like a writing machine, just writing nonstop, and then everything kind of ceased. And so, most bands say that they're living life when they're on a hiatus. So what's your version of living life?

Joey Varela: Um, I'm not gonna lie, I kind of just like— my life started falling apart like right after Levitate, and I kind of just didn't want to do music. So I was like trying to figure out where, like, what the hell I was gonna do, where I was gonna fit in, or what I was gonna— whatever. I ended up getting this bartending gig, which I'm still doing, and that's regular life for me, just bartending, you know. I got my daughter and stuff like that, so I was like, okay, I'll just do this and I'll eat a lot.

Aaron: You know, you're not the only person that we know that we've talked to that that is kind of their, their other gig is bartending. I am curious as this just came to mind, is that good for story inspiration for songs? I know you pull most stuff from your own stories, but being a bartender, you hear everybody's stories.

Joey Varela: I will say it's it's very good for inspiration. You hear a lot of crazy shit, but it also just keeps me like— I feel like bartending in a weird way, keeps me very grounded, if that makes sense. Because I'm talking to people all day and it just helps me, I guess, connect with people on a more human level than just like, oh, I'm a band guy kind of thing, you know?

Dan: Yeah, that makes sense. It helps you, just communicate in general because you're talking with all sorts of all walks of life at that point.

Joey Varela: Yeah, literally all day, all day.

Dan: Yeah. Well, before we get into the album, I wanted to discuss your live show. We've had the pleasure of seeing you recently on tour with Dropout Kings and Ded, and the first thing that always sticks out when seeing you is that you're vocally— you're unmatched. You're one of the best singers I've seen live.

Joey Varela: Thank you.

Dan: And so I'm just kind of curious, are you doing anything to prepare for the live shows?

Joey Varela: I am now. I used to not before. I was like, no, I'm just gonna get up there and do the thing because I, you know, I drink tequila and stuff like that. I always drink tequila, like, to work down my nerves and stuff. Lately though, I've been like, hey, I want to do things way better. So I've been doing a lot of vocal warm-ups and exercises. You know, I watch videos. I am trying to now invest in vocal lessons because there's a lot of things that I still want to do. So yeah, I've been doing a lot of things differently lately.

Dan: That's awesome. And that's so— that's one thing when we do our concert recaps, that's one thing that's very noticeable to us is that when a singer does not warm up. Because usually it can be rough those first couple of songs until about the second or third song. But yeah, when we saw you, there was no roughness at all. It was— you dove right into it for sure.

Joey Varela: Yeah, that's a lot of me singing at the top of my fucking lungs in the RV.

Dan: Fair enough.

KC: Yeah.

Dan: And we may have mentioned this after the set, but you and the band really seem to be clicking, having a lot of fun up on stage. Is that the new songs themselves, the live show, or just where you're at with each other as people right now?

Joey Varela: It's just where we're at with each other, I think, because we went through some lineup changes. I had to get rid of like— There's some like incredibly fucking toxic people that were in the band. But you know, when people are your friends or you think they're your friends, you keep them around because you're like, oh, they'll change or whatever. I had to get rid of a lot of bullshit. And a lot of that was because when I came back into doing this thing, I wrote the record and that itself was such a different experience for me that I was like, I want to— I just want to be happy. Like, I want to be on tour and not worry about who I'm surrounded by or anything else. And the guys I have are like, everyone is just clicking on everything, like everything. And I'm like, wow, I've never had this. And we just, we're just happy, we're having fun.

Dan: Yeah, it's evident too. You guys were just bouncing off each other up on stage. Everybody was really relaxed.

Joey Varela: I've had people come up to us at a lot of those shows and literally be like, this is the healthiest I think, or happiest I've ever seen this band. And I'm like, yeah.

KC: Yeah, it's noticeable.

Aaron: Yeah, that's what we wanted to see and hear too. That's great. I'm glad to hear you say that.

Joey Varela: Yeah, thank you.

Aaron: What did make you decide to come back after, you know, you said you didn't want to make music at all for a while?

Joey Varela: Um, I kind of just started having fun. So it's a really random story, but, I wasn't thinking about doing any of this anymore. And then I did a feature for the guys in Divide the Fall. I fucking love them. And they— I had to go to Rich's studio, Rich from Fire From the Gods, the drummer. And I met Rich randomly in a studio just doing the feature. And he was like, hey, I really like what you're doing. We should work on music. And I was like, nah, I don't really want to get invested into anything or whatever. But Rich was like, no, no, let's just have fun. And I went, I started having fun. And then I think somewhere along that process I was like, oh, I'm starting to really miss this, this feeling. Like, I really want to do it again. And that just kind of snowballed. And now here I am. It was a really weird thing, man.

Aaron: Yeah.

KC: So Icon is set to be released on October 23rd. So first off, how many writing trips did you have between Levitate and then finishing Icon?

Joey Varela: All right. So with Levitate, in between Levitate was not a lot because I really did a lot of it here. Icon, I think it was just two trips, which is kind of weird, but Rich was here in New York City, so I started with him. And then when I decided I wanted to actually do it was like two trips to California and that was it. I think the first time I was out there, I was there for two weeks and then I went back for like a month and that was it.

KC: Okay.

Joey Varela: Yeah, so it was, it was a pretty— this process was very different and very easy.

KC: Yeah.

Aaron: Something that sticks out to me about this record that kind of makes it unique among other things I've been listening to lately is the length of it. It's eight songs, is it?

Joey Varela: Yeah.

KC: Yeah.

Aaron: Eight tracks, you know, you're in and out. And so I'm really curious. I mean, as you explain, that just taking a couple of writing sessions, it does explain some of it, but I'm kind of curious how you determined this is complete and it's a complete album as opposed to a handful of songs on an EP or a more traditional 10, 12 plus whatever longer LP.

Joey Varela: Yeah.

Aaron: Because you really hit that middle ground.

Joey Varela: Yeah. I think I was just having so much fun. Like there are times, there are some songs on this record. I think there's two of them specifically that are like two minutes and some change. And I remember turning those in and my team was like, oh, these are really good. But is this not too short? And I'm like, no, they're done. And they ask me the same question, well, how do you know it's done? And I'm like, I did it in the studio and it felt right. And I was like, I don't need to go back and change this. And that was one of the things that I didn't really have with Levitate. That process was very different. And so I constantly kept going back to revisit things and everything else. With this, I never revisited anything.

Aaron: Hmm.

Joey Varela: I wrote all the demos and then we re-recorded everything. I did it with Sky from Issues and Sam Gawano. Who does like— the guy does Prada, everyone. And so I was in good hands, and I was just having so much fun that I'm like, all right, this song is done. That's it. There's nothing more to that I can do. And it was good for me to finally be like, oh, I can let go of this, and that's it. I don't have to go back to it. I don't have to constantly change things because I'm real bad at that. Like, I used to get stuck in that mode where I'd have to go back, and like you said, I'd be like, oh no, it's only eigh songs. I need ten and each one needs to be three minutes. And I was like, I gotta let go of that whole mindset.

Dan: Yeah, I think one of the last times we had talked with you, it was almost like a song wasn't done until it was sent. And so for one, I'm excited to hear that, but what helped get you to that point where you just really like, you know, is there anything in particular other than the people, like you said, that were around you?

Joey Varela: So with this one, we would do the song and then we'd sit down and we'd like go do something, we like have lunch. We'd go get Starbucks, we'd just completely leave the studio and we'd come back and we're like, all right, do you want to just listen to it? And we'd listen to it like now that we haven't listened to it for a bit. And I could just tell, I'd be like, oh yeah, that's good.

Dan: Nice.

Joey Varela: And I didn't do that before because before I'd be picking things. I'm like, oh man, I didn't enunciate this word, or I didn't do this, or I didn't do that. With this, I was kind of like, nah, it's cool.

Dan: That's awesome.

Aaron: I love that. We've talked to so many artists that are the exact same way where it's like they will keep on working and working. And even people— what we've— I've heard people say before, like, a song's never really done, you just kind of run out of time to work on it. If it were up to them, they would just keep piddling with it forever. So I appreciate that healthy approach.

Joey Varela: Yeah, that's a real fucking thing, dude. I'm really bad at that. With this record, I mean, we even— so when the album was done, I got sent a version of the record and I listened to it once in my car. And then I was like, this is good, let's get it mastered or whatever. And I remember my engineer called me and he was like, yeah, dude, you sent back no mix notes. And I'm like, it's good. And he literally was like, did you even listen to it? And I'm like, I listened to it. I really fucking listened. And he straight up called me a weirdo. He was like, you're a fucking weirdo, bro. He's like, you sent back no notes. And my thing is that I'm like, I listened to it once, it was great. It was great when I left the studio, it's great now. I chose you to be the mixing engineer because I trust what you do and I'm already a fan of your work. Trust me, this doesn't need anything else. And I remember for weeks, dude, he would hit me back up. He'd say, hey man, are you sure? And I'm like, I haven't even listened to it again and I'm not gonna. So this is it.

Dan: That's awesome.

KC: Yeah, I love that approach that you take there.

Joey Varela: Thank you.

KC: Speaking of approaches to things, you had a grand plan with a vision of how you wanted to make the videos, and you had— yeah, I think about five videos that you had like a concept out, and then the budget got cut by 84%.

Joey Varela: Yes, sir.

KC: What you decided next was to be very transparent about the whole situation. So one of the big topics of the album is grief. So did the cut of funds bring its own version of the seven stages of grief? Or was it giving you the opportunity to pivot to alternate routes?

Joey Varela: It definitely brought on its challenges. Because, I don't want to discredit the rest of my records, but I'm a very active lazy person. Like I'm very active with certain things and then other things I'm like, eh, whatever, we can just whatever. And I've always been that way with everything. With this project, I was like, oh, this music means a lot to me, so I want the videos to mean a lot. And then that happened and completely fucked up my plan. And I'm like, this is crazy. But somewhere along the lines, I was like, all right, if you're not gonna give me the budget to tell the story the way I want to, I'm gonna tell the story the way you don't want me to tell it, and I did it anyway. I was like, fuck it. And I remember when we turned in the music videos, me and my manager turned them in, and we were like, all right, this is it, because no one saw anything. And we got back an email. They're like, all right, give us a couple of days, and we'll look all this over or whatever, blah blah. And I remember they sent me back an email in like an hour. And they were like, this is the craziest shit I've ever seen. They're like, what the fuck? And at the same time they were like, but it's so cool that we'd be idiots to not put this out. And so the videos came out.

Aaron: People can find that all over your socials, I assume. 

Joey Varela: Yeah.

Aaron: That's where I'm gonna direct people. You can hear the whole story behind VRSTY's new record and what could have been and what currently is.

Joey Varela: Yeah. Yeah.

Dan: So when you have a plan like that and you have this, you know, you're really excited, it's building towards the excitement of the album release, and you get the news that half your budget's cut, even though the album's fucking amazing and there's still reason to be excited, how do you stay excited for it when you kind of get your bubble burst, so to speak?

Joey Varela: So you kind of don't. It's weird, but this is— that was the reason why I didn't want to do music for like three years. I'm like, this is the fucking reason why, and it's happening again. But it was one of those things where I had to tell myself, the music is gonna speak for itself. The videos will be fine, they'll be very tongue-in-cheek and they'll be funny or whatever, but I'm like, this music is gonna speak for itself. And I was just like, fuck it, we ball. I'm gonna keep moving, you know?

KC: Oh, and you can tell that you wrote all the text in there, because as I'm reading it, I'm like, oh yeah, that's something Joey would say.

Joey Varela: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I made sure I was like, all right, here's the story. Got on my phone and just started writing everything down. I was like, fuck it.

Dan: Yeah, you were brutally honest and I appreciated that too. And the other thing I wanted to ask too, so if you ever get the budget, would you ever revisit that concept and try to produce those videos still?

Joey Varela: I would love to. I would absolutely fucking love to. If I did get the budget, I'd love to go back and give them the treatment they deserved. Because I really had some fucking crazy ideas for a lot of it. And it just didn't get to happen. And I'm like, that really blows. But you know, maybe, who knows, maybe I will get the budget and I'll go back. Or I'll either just like, now they know, they'll never not give me a budget again.

Dan: Or, I mean, you know, just using VRSTY to maybe crowdfund the budget? Because, as a fan, I would love to see your vision, to be honest.

Joey Varela: Yeah, I would do that. But I don't want— I don't want to make— my thing is I don't want to make other people pay for what I saw or what I believe the songs are, because somewhere along the line also, actually, this is really funny. We're coming near the release date for the record. And these are like the only interviews I really started doing. I think I've done like three, and normally I do a shit ton of these, and I haven't really done that. And, you know, I got asked recently, I was like, hey, why don't you want to do that? And my thing, the way I look at it now, is I want people to experience the music however it comes to them. The problem is if I make people pay for this, or I have this vision or whatever, maybe it wasn't meant to be that way because If I'm telling everyone or I'm giving the feeling of the song, then people are like, oh my God, yeah, I feel that too because I saw it or I heard in the video. And now I don't have that, so people are just like, oh, I found this song because of this and this is what it means to me. And it's way more organic this way, and I actually love it way more.

Dan: That's awesome.

KC: Let's dive into that a little bit and talk about a couple of tracks specifically. Definitely wanted to open up with Grief Machine. This song opened the floodgates. And losing your dog Peanut allowed you to grieve things that you kind of kept down for a really long time.

Joey Varela: Yeah. So that song wasn't supposed to be on the record. It was just something I wrote for myself. When my dog passed away, I started taking like— I started taking therapy a lot. And, you know, it kind of all happened around the same time. Like my dog passed away. We put out Levitate and everything, things kind of went downhill. I wrote that song and then it was like one of those things I needed for me. And I just started taking therapy because I realized I wasn't properly grieving anyone, like at all. And I've lost family, friends, everyone. I just kind of smiled and was like, oh, that's life. But it's not the correct way to go about things. The song also wasn't even, you know, not only was it not supposed to be on the record, but it wasn't a single at first either. I brought it in at the very end. I showed it to Sky. Sky was like, you need to put this out. I was hesitant a bit, but I was like, fuck it. We did it. And then when the label chose it as a single, they were like, hey, could we use Grief Machine as a single? I was even surprised. I was like, wait a minute, you guys want to use this as a single? And they were like, this speaks on something that is very real to you. And, you know, you need it. And I put it out, and that song literally changed so much for us in such a short amount of time. It's crazy.

KC: Yeah, that's one thing that I wanted to touch on. So many people are connecting to the song.

Joey Varela: Yeah.

KC: And the comments on the YouTube video alone, by some of the people, are just heartbreaking.

Joey Varela: Oh yeah.

KC: So, what does it mean to you to create a song that came out of something so personal that starts to give other people a way to process things that they're struggling with?

Joey Varela: Oh, man. It honestly means the world to me because I write music and I write things that are personal to me, but I'm working on being more vulnerable about things. And for me to write that song and just be like, oh, this is something that is just for me, and see how everyone else connected with it was I mean, even still, it's fucking crazy. Like, I wake up every day and I get all these tags from all these different things and I'm like, holy shit, this is really, it's really helping people. And that's the most important thing. Like, this song, I will say this song was a struggle for me to sing in the studio and also to sing live for the first couple of times.

KC: Yeah.

Joey Varela: And I keep telling myself, I'm like, if this song means this much to me, I can't imagine what it means to someone else who is just hearing it for the first time. and is going through this right now.

KC: And I definitely want to commend you for commenting on pretty much everybody's comment on the video. 

Joey Varela: I try, man. You know, I feel like for someone to comment on a video and put themselves out there, the least I can do is just be like, hey, I'm here and I'm listening. I hear you.

Aaron: I like that you kind of mentioned that the therapy and whatnot is helping you to, I guess, maybe reach new levels, I guess, of vulnerability or something. I think that has actually always been one of your strengths as a songwriter, because I feel like— I think every time we have talked, if people go back and listen to our previous conversations, you're like, I'm writing the most honest stuff I've ever written. I'm writing the most honest stuff I've ever written. And it might become more true with each time.

Joey Varela: Yeah.

Aaron: Like, you're able to kind of deal with these things and put them out in a vulnerable way. And I think that that's why you see a song like Grief Machine do what it does and resonate, is because people can connect with these experiences and they appreciate when somebody's willing to kind of put their heart out there and just say, hey, this is some stuff that's going on.

Joey Varela: Yeah.

Aaron: So yeah, I think that's definitely playing to, to us, one of your strengths. And I'm glad to see that that's— you're able to continue to tap into that and take it to new places.

Joey Varela: Yeah, I'm trying, man. Like, it honestly— therapy has helped so much. Also, this song, like, I put in the video that I never visited my dad's grave, which I recently did for the first time in my life a couple of weeks ago. And I always tell people, like, it's crazy how me writing one song that wasn't supposed to ever be heard by people has made me even be like, okay, I need to change all these aspects of my life, you know?

Dan: Yeah, that's something I wanted to mention is that the music video that you were able to create and, you basically kind of listed out a bunch of names that you were not able to grieve, including your father. I noticed a couple other Varela family members on there, and the first name that I saw really stood out to me was was Adam Ramey. So yeah, I just wanted to kind of kind of ask you, how have you been able to process everything, including Adam's death?

Joey Varela: Man, Adam's was hard. My dog, I don't think I'm ever going to get over that, or my dad. And you know, I don't think I'm ever going to get over any any death or any anything, but there are specific ones that just hit you at crazy times. And I remember when I got the call that Adam had passed, it was like midnight. And I remember thinking, I was like, no, there's no fucking way. I just spoke to him like four fucking days ago and we were making jokes and everything online. And that was one of the things that like, that crushed me. Like, I was I don't know. I've toured with Dropout Kings a bunch before this. Like, we've ended up on the same tours, and me and that guy had so many conversations. We worked on music. I have voice notes of things that they were working on that I was helping with, like melodies and everything else, because he wanted to sing more. Just so much, you know, stuff. And then when that happened, I was like, wow, I'm never— this is crazy. Like, I'm never gonna catch a break. Like, this is just— it's just never ending. And when I did the video, I remember reaching out and being like, hey, I really want to put Adam's name in this video because he's someone that I don't think, as a friend, I don't think I'm ever going to get over that. Like, I think Adam had so much more life to give. And I think not only am I sad, but I'm also pissed off that he'll never get to see what he meant to other people. And so I was like, I definitely want to put like a dedication in the video. And then when I was doing the names, I was really thinking about it and, because they're in a— they're not in an order, but some of them are. And I remember thinking, I'm gonna put Adam's name first because this is the freshest one right now that I'm still trying to bounce back from.

Dan: So that makes sense.

Joey Varela: And I didn't— I got the permission to do it and I was like, cool.

Dan: Yeah. And, you know, I will say just a shout out to Black Cat Bill because that man, you know, he just always remains positive. He's got such an awesome outlook on life. And I love— yeah, I love his words. He's got such a way with words, whether he's singing or posting. He's just a positive person.

Joey Varela: That guy's a guru, man.

Dan: Yeah, that's the word I was looking for.

Joey Varela: Yeah. One of my favorite things about touring with him is literally sitting down and having conversations with him because he can go, man. But he's always just like, he tries to uplift everyone, and everyone needs that.

Dan: Yes, agreed. 

Aaron: Speaking of uplifting, and we'll kind of shift a little bit here from maybe the thematic elements of the album to the sound, the sonic elements of the album.

Joey Varela: Yeah.

Aaron: We've got a few moments on this one that to me really stand out, where, particularly the song ez2find.

Joey Varela: Yeah.

Aaron: Where you lean— you've always had this combination of, like a pop-R&B-metal kind of combo. But these songs where you lean a little more into the pop-R&B part instead of the metal part, instead of the heavy part.

Joey Varela: Yeah.

Aaron: And that— a song like that feels really natural, and it seems like it's like a very comfortable place for you. And I think it sounds great. To me, it's one of the most interesting songs on the whole album.

Joey Varela: Thank you.

Aaron: So I know how much you love your heavy bands, but could you see your own band moving more in a direction like that over time?

Joey Varela: Um, no.

Aaron: He was like, no, we're staying heavy.

Joey Varela: Yeah, I think, I like music like that, and I'll do more of it because it is fun. I will say it was so much fun to finally be like, oh my God, I'm doing something poppy. Like, this is cool. I have all these different ideas for it, but I'm such a— I like heavy things so much that I'm like, I don't know if we're ever gonna go into a full poppy direction like that. Maybe I'll balance it out a little better for like the next stuff, but I don't know. I don't think we're ever gonna go like that, probably.

Aaron: Yeah, we're gonna get that Joey Varela solo R&B album at some point.

Joey Varela: That's also probably never gonna happen. I would get canceled so quick for that. Just lyrical content-wise, dude, like if it was an R&B album, the topics I guess change because, you know, R&B, rap, pop, all that stuff. They sing about different things that most people in metal won't touch. They just wouldn't work. It wouldn't work.

Aaron: Yeah, fair enough.

KC: Well, and then you got a song like What's the Point and it feels very peak baddiecore, as you would refer to it as. And then we love that direction. So as long as you like to play in that side of it, we're here for it.

Joey Varela: Yeah, I mean, I'm always gonna— as long as I can keep doing this, and keep having fun doing it, I'm always gonna lean into things that are more fun and more where my voice kind of fits. But I also just like the heavy aspect of it. And I think the heavy aspect comes from just, I'm still a fan of shows. And so when I go to shows, I know what I like and I'm like, okay, I know what I want to give people as well.

KC: Yeah.

Dan: So I have a question. Did you ever imagine having a new genre being created from your music called baddiecore?

Joey Varela: I have never. I don't know. Honestly, I don't be imagining nothing, man. I just, I write these songs and then I'm like, I hope people like them. With this album specifically, I can honestly say for the first time ever where I was like, oh, I think this is gonna do great. Normally I'm very nervous about shit, but with this batch of music, I'm like, I think this is gonna be fucking sick.

KC: We agree.

Aaron: Yeah, sounds like what's out there now already is doing pretty well for you, so that's exciting.

Joey Varela: Yeah, it's doing fucking crazy. Like, I have no words for how good it's doing.

Dan: It's a lot of fun to listen to, that's for sure.

Joey Varela: Fuck yeah.

Aaron: Having heard the rest of the album, I think we can vouch for its quality. So I'm definitely hoping that other people resonate too.

Joey Varela: Yeah, I'm sure someone will say something eventually, but I'm like, I think it's probably some of the most fun, just best work I've done in a long time.

Aaron: I'm curious about this now. How about the actual album title? How did you come up with Icon as what you wanted to go with?

Joey Varela: So, I always had this idea where I was like— I've always loved the idea of a figure, obviously an icon, or like just a person that people kind of idolized or just look towards to be, you know, a sense of inspiration because of what they look like on the outside, but on the inside everything was just like a fucking mess. And I remember in the studio I brought that up because the album didn't have a title yet. I actually, I think it was going to be an EP or just a bunch of singles at first. And then I brought that up and it was actually my producer, Sam. He turned around, he was like, that's your album title. And I was like, what? He was like, Icon. He's like, that right there is it. And I was like, cool. And then I loved it. And then when I approached the label with it, they loved it. They were like, oh, we have all these ideas for cover art and all this other stuff. And, me being me, I was like, I have an idea. What if the album is called Icon and you think of something that's super, super glamorous, just like, oh my God, this is iconic, this is this, this is that. And instead I just give everyone the most basic shit in the fucking world because that's what the album truly is. It's like, oh, here's this icon, but behind everything it's just the flattest level of human emotions ever. And so that's how that whole thing came out.

Aaron: Nice.

KC: Awesome.

Aaron: All right, we've got a few more minutes here. I know we have done various Burning Questions before. I'm not entirely sure which ones we've covered, but I'm sure at this point that your answers would be different to some of these than they were in the past. One we can definitely ask, since we just talked about seeing you guys live, what's the song from the new album you either love playing live or are looking forward to playing live if you haven't started yet?

Joey Varela: Um, I love playing Sugar live. Sugar is probably one of my favorite songs to play live. I am looking forward to playing What's the Point live because I am very interested at seeing how that's going to translate to a live setting.

KC: I am too.

Joey Varela: Yeah, I'm really interested. I'm like, how is this gonna work?

Dan: What do you think a band everyone should see live is currently?

Joey Varela: A band everyone should see live? Oh man, there's so many. Um, let me think of one that I'm really, really listening to right now. Well, I'm currently on a, what is it called, a Reverend kick. You guys know who Reverend is?

Aaron: No.

Joey Varela: All right, they're like this extreme deathcore band. I've, I've only seen live videos of them, but they're— these guys are like teenagers and they just signed to like Atlantic, which is a huge deal. But they're like a deathcore band, like old school Suicide Silence type thing. I think they're amazing. Another band I think people should see live, Cartographer, who, she's featured on our record. That girl is so fucking good live. Like, just the whole band is incredible live. And if I can have just one band, if I can give one more that I just recently seen that blew me away, Magnolia Park. Like, I know Magnolia Park is kind of blowing up at the moment, but I still feel like they don't get enough recognition right now. And I watched them live and was like, holy shit, this is great. So I'd say those three right now.

Dan: If you get a chance to meet him, suggest warming up.

Aaron: He's like, give him your vocal recipe.

Dan: Yes, he is one that I literally— I think I even called it out on the Vans Warped Tour, yeah.

Joey Varela: The thing is, yeah, they've been going nonstop. They've been on every fucking tour, and I'm like, bro, you're gonna tire yourself out. He sent me a song recently— I guess I could talk about this. It's on TikTok. He sent me a song recently for us to do together, and I was like, are you taking a break? Like, are you gonna— he's like, no. And I'm like, you're fucking crazy. You're absolutely insane, dude. You're gonna ruin your voice, your body, everything. But, you know, he likes it. He's just like, no, dude, I gotta keep going. I'm like, all right, well, if you can manage it, good on you, buddy.

Dan: That would be an awesome feature for you.

Joey Varela: Yeah.

KC: There you go.

Aaron: All right, our time's about up here, but we thank you in general for joining us, but especially knowing that you're only kind of doing a few interviews at the moment. It means a lot that you let us be one of those.

Joey Varela: So by a few, I really mean like three.

Aaron: Awesome.

Joey Varela: Actually, it might just be two, just you guys and the one I did like— no, yeah, three. I think you guys might end up being the last one because I don't want to talk to anyone else. I don't know, I just want people— it's not that I don't want to talk to anyone else, it's that, when it comes to like this kind of stuff, normally I'm like, oh, I want to have fun and I want to go on interviews with my friends and everything else. But now I'm like, I still want to do that, but also I don't want to give away too much. Because I feel like sometimes I do that on certain interviews. And that kind of dictates where the album goes or how people feel about it or how people look at it. And I'm like, I don't want to do that. I think I really do want people to just find the record however the fuck they find it. Like, even if they're not looking for it, it just comes on shuffle, whether at the gym or, I don't know, doing groceries. I don't care. However you were meant to find it is what was meant for you. And however you feel about any of these songs, that's how you were meant to feel about it. without me needing to tell someone, you know? So, yep.

Dan: Yeah. So, yeah, thank you very much, Joey. We definitely appreciate your time. And this was a lot of fun.

Joey Varela: Thank you guys.

Dan: Well, thank you very much for listening to The Itch Podcast. My name is Dan.

KC: I'm KC.

Aaron: And I'm Aaron.

Joey Varela: And I'm Joey.

Dan: And until next time, just give me some time to get this off my chest.

Joey Varela: I love that.

Aaron: If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please subscribe and tell a friend about The Itch.

KC: Check out the show notes for links about the episode, as well as our new music playlist and where you can hear us every Sunday night.

Dan: And you can interact with us at itchrocks.com or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Gmail, all @itchrocks. I-T-C-H-R-O-C-K-S.